Favorites in men for the IRONMAN St. George World Cup

This Saturday, May 7, the IRONMAN World Championship in St. George (USA, Utah) where some of the best triathletes in the specialty will be.

Although there are marked absences in the test such as the German Jan Frodeno, Patrick Lange, Joe Skipper or the Spanish Javier Gómez Noya, the poster is very powerful and we will surely see a great show.

All eyes are on the Norwegians as this will be the first time they meet Kristian Blummenfelt with his compatriot Gustav Iden in distance IRONMAN and everything can happen.

We review the favorites for victory.

Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR, age 28)

Blummenfelt comes to this race with the best possible credentials,

In 2021 he won the Olympic Gold, the ITU World Championship and the best time in IRONMAN in Cozumel with a time of 7:21:12.

If it is true, that the first competition in which he participated in this 2022 did not go well, the IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai finishing in 10th position.

Gustav Iden (NOR, age 25)

The Norwegian is also a rival to take into account. The double IRONMAN 70.3 world champion won IRONMAN Florida last year with a time of 7:42:57 in what was his debut in the distance.

Although she has not participated before with the best of the circuit, Iden will have to be taken into account in the fight for victory.

Lionel Sanders (CAN, age 33)

The mediatic Canadian triathlete has been in good shape and in the top positions in his last competitions.

In the Battle Royale, where he was second after Jan Frodeno, he stopped the clock in 7:43, he was also second in Florida after Iden with 7:48 and this year he beat Sam long in a spectacular sprint at IM 70.3 St. George.

He was 2nd in Kona in 2017, although in his last participations his result was not very good. This year with his new coach he hopes to improve his results and fight for the title.

Sam Long (USA, age 26)

The North American, although he is still very young for the distance, is among the best triathletes in the world and comes to this event after having won this year at Daytona and Puerto Varas.

Last year he won the Ironman Coeur d'Alene, so he may be fighting for victory and surprise. We will have to see how he deals with the rest of the PROS

Sebastian Kienle (ALE, age 37)

With his sights set on his retirement from professional triathlon next year, the German wants to finish in style trying to get his second world title in IRONMAN.

He is recovered from the injury that had him at half throttle last year and the St. George circuit is good for him, so you can expect anything from Sebastian.

Alistair Brownlee (GB, age 33)

The double Olympic champion (2012 and 2016) arrives at the competition with many doubts regarding his performance.

After an injury in 2021 he has participated this year in the Oceanside 70.3 where he was in the lead for quite some time although he sank in the final part of the test.

The Briton was 21st in his Kona debut and won IRONMAN Western Australia with a time of 7:45:21.

We will have to wait to see his performance in the test and if he can "adjust" his forces to reach the last part of the race in the lead.

Ben Hoffman (USA, age 38)

The veteran North American triathlete already knows what it is to win in this competition, since he did it in 2012, in Kona he has been second in 2014, and fourth in 2017 and 2019.

Hoffman comes into the race after taking victory in Texas with a time of 7:57:42.

More favorites

Other triathletes that should be taken into account may be the following:

Daniel Baekkegard, second in the IM 70.3 Dubai, Matt Hanson second in Puerto Varas, Braden Currie, Bart Aernouts, Cameron Wurf, David McNamee, Andy Potts or Patrick Nilsson among others.